The present invention generally concerns the display of information in a sales area.
The display of information relating to items offered for sale in a sales area is generally obtained using labels which, in particular, display the price of the item with which a label is associated and other information such as price per weight, etc.
The need to provide a display of updated information has warranted the installing in numerous sales areas of electronic labels having a screen on which the display of information is remote controlled.
The usefulness of such systems for display shelving at sites such as supermarkets, hypermarkets or any other sales area, is essentially to allow consumers to be presented with a price for each item on sale, this price reliably corresponding to the price such as indicated in the central file of the site, i.e., to the price such as will effectively be charged at the check-out.
Another advantage of these known systems is to allow automated price changes to be made within much shorter time periods than with manual display, whether for special offer periods at the site for all or some of the items on sale, to reflect price changes, to face inflationary situations during which very frequent prices increases must be made, etc.
Also, in matters of price displays, there are numerous constraints in particular legal constraints regarding the type of displayed prices (unit price, special offer price, etc.), which must be heeded by electronic systems in the same manner as for paper displays.
Therefore electronic label systems, although they are tending to become increasingly more sophisticated over time, nonetheless remain relatively rigid regarding the different display possibilities, and regarding the time and spatial organization of these different possibilities.
In addition, these electronic labels only allow the display of information relating to the item with which each one is associated, and moreover this information is generally restricted to the price displayed by the labels.
Additionally, consumers are currently left to fend for themselves in a sales area providing information relating solely to the items on sale. Consumers must browse through this information to find relevant data. In a sales area generally having several thousand items on offer, finding the suitable item may prove to be most complicated.
Furthermore with the emergence of electronic trade, consumers have become accustomed to information specifically given for their intention. Yet the display of information such as currently found in sales areas does not offer any interaction with consumers.
There are currently no means of disseminating information specifically intended for a consumer and related to the consumer's position in a store, or even related to a product specific to this consumer.